A heartening novel that celebrates the power of determination and resilience in achieving success.
Synopsis
I needed a vehicle to explain how I could run fast. Running fast was a God-given gift, but I wanted to add a touch of magic. So I invented some Magic Slippers that could make me run fast and take me back in time, from 18 years old to when I was 10 years old. I have always liked slippers. When I came home from school and put my slippers on, I could relax, away from the pressures of school.
The pressure started when I was 10 years old. My parents wanted me to pass the ‘11 Plus’ and go to grammar school, as my brother Anthony had done. He was now studying Civil Engineering in London. My parents wanted me to do the same. But they didn’t tell me that Anthony had a different father from me.
I failed the ‘11 Plus’ exam. I also failed the ‘13 Plus’ exam but I did pass ten O Levels, which got me into grammar school. I was bottom of the class at grammar school and only passed one A Level: Maths, at grade E.
If my parents had left me alone, I would have been a professional footballer. But instead I went to school in Rugby and consequently played rugby. They don’t play football in Rugby, they play rugby because it is where the game was invented, at Rugby School. Because I could run fast, I scored a lot of tries, so they made me captain. We beat all the other schools in Rugby and won the prestigious Under 13s Shield. But I never liked rugby. It’s a rough game. I would much rather have played football. But I didn’t have the opportunity.
Funnily enough, it was my mother that came to my rescue. She wanted me to do O Level Chemistry like my brother, but the school I was at did not have a Chemistry lab. So she got me into Rugby Tech on Wednesday afternoons, just to study Chemistry. Wednesday afternoons was also Games practise for rugby. So I argued that if I wasn’t training in the team on Wednesday afternoons, I would not be fit enough to play. Reluctantly, the Games master had to agree. I played my last game of rugby when I was 15. I got my head bashed about and saw stars, which happened frequently. It was concussion but it wasn’t mentioned in the sixties, when I played. Getting your head bashed about was part and parcel of the game.
